Canadian mining company Sandfire Resources has executed agreements with Havilah Resources to progress the Kalkaroo Copper-Gold Project and form a strategic exploration partnership in South Australia’s Curnamona Province.
Following a shareholder vote, Havilah received approval to proceed with the transaction, allowing Sandfire to secure an 80% stake in the Kalkaroo project.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Kalkaroo is said to be Australia’s most significant undeveloped open-pit copper deposit based on copper equivalent ore reserves, featuring a 0.74% copper equivalent grade.
It is home to measured, indicated and inferred Joint Ore Reserve Committee (JORC) mineral resources including 1.1 million tonnes (mt) of copper, 3.1 million ounces (moz) of gold and 23,200t of cobalt.
The acquisition involves an initial payment of approximately A$117.6m ($81.9m), comprising A$31.5m in cash and 4,640,833 Sandfire shares.
Sandfire CEO and managing director Brendan Harris said: “Execution of the definitive transaction agreements is an important milestone for our company as it provides the right to earn a controlling interest in a copper-gold resource and reserve that remains open along strike and at depth, and has the potential to underpin a large-scale, long-life and low-cost development project located in a preferred jurisdiction.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalData“We look forward to working with the Havilah team, the South Australian Government, the Traditional Owners and other local stakeholders to bring the Kalkaroo copper-gold project to life and create meaningful opportunities for the broader community.”
Sandfire’s option to acquire the 80% interest depends on the completion of a new pre-feasibility study, which will feature at least 20,000m of infill and resource extension drilling, or may be exercised within a time frame of 24 months.
Concurrently, Sandfire is set to invest A$30m in regional exploration over a minimum of two years as part of the strategic alliance agreement.
Havilah technical director Chris Giles said: “Sandfire will bring the substantial capital and technical expertise that are required to fully evaluate and develop the large Kalkaroo copper-gold project at an optimum scale. Havilah would hold a significant stake in the outcome via its retained 20% carried interest in the project.
“The A$30m strategic alliance funding commitment over two years will allow us to accelerate regional exploration with the objective of transforming the highly prospective Curnamona Province into Australia’s next major copper province, centred on the Kalkaroo copper-gold project development.”
